


Like A Crow on A Wire

by larrymylove



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Abandoned Mansion, Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Exploration, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, Urban Exploration, urban exploring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 08:36:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9064408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larrymylove/pseuds/larrymylove
Summary: Harry is an urban explorer, who loves the history surrounding old places and is adamantly against any kinds of vandalism and destruction of the places he visits. Louis is a vandal armed with a can of spray paint and apathy the size of the graffiti he paints. They weren't supposed to meet, but life sometimes includes a few unexpected adventures.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Lately I've been so into watching urban exploring videos on youtube. I just can't get enough of it! One of the things that strikes me is how passionate the explorers I watch are about keeping the integrity of the places they visit. Thus, the idea for this fic was born! It started out as a simple AU musing on my blog, then turned into a "oh I'll start it tomorrow." And now here it is, three hours later as a final product and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out! I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

_____

_I'm like a crow on a wire_  
_You're the shining distraction that makes me fly_

_____

 

Harry adjusted the camera just so before pressing the button to record. He angled himself a little in the viewfinder, running a hand through his unruly curls in a last-minute attempt to try to tame them. Then, clearing his throat, he addressed his audience.

“Hi everyone!” He said happily, giving a little wave to the camera, “It’s me again! Today we’re headed to an abandoned mansion. As always, I’m not going to disclose the location due to the fact that I don’t want people to try to track it down and do bad things there. Too often I see too much destruction and graffiti to the properties and you know how much that absolutely breaks my heart. So I do what I can to preserve these places the best that I can. I love exploring these places and sharing these beautiful bits of history with you, and I will not disclose the location here on the internet for just anyone to find. But I will tell you what little I can. We’re going to an abandoned mansion, built in the Victorian Era. It was remodeled and lived in until around the 1970s. The family who lived there randomly left one day, and it is unsure why. It’s said that there’s still many personal items left behind, and we’re going to go have a look! So come along with me, and let’s see what we find!”

He pressed the button to end the recording, a pleased little smile spreading across his face. This would be his twenty-third exploration and already, his YouTube audience had grown into the thousands. Apparently many other people had just as big a fascination with abandoned places as Harry, and he loved getting to bring these historic places to people in their homes from their laptops, cellphones, whatever. He loved the histories of these places, and he loved spreading education and awareness of how people once upon a time used to live. So far, he’d visited several mansions, an abandoned mental hospital, several abandoned elementary schools, and a few churches. He hoped to take his explorations further around the globe, and with his growing fan base and donations, he knew his dream was quickly going to be a reality.

Before leaving his hotel room, Harry checked over his backpack several times just to make sure he had everything he needed. Safety was always number one when doing any sort of urban exploration, and he always made sure he had a mask to ward off asbestos and black mold, as well as several high-power flash lights, a few flares, several granola bars, a pair of gloves, and a charged cellphone. He knew it wasn’t the safest to go alone to places like this, and typically he had his crew of Niall and Liam with him to help him and just for safety reasons. But this was something he’d wanted to try on his own, much to Liam’s dismay and arguing. Harry loved exploring with his best friends, but there was something about being on your own and just seeing everything by yourself, with complete silence. Some would consider it spooky, but not Harry. When asked if he was ever scared of ghosts, he’d always laugh and say, “Ghosts? I encounter ghosts every time I explore. Each building is a ghost, each wall has a thousand stories. I feel more energy in an abandoned building than in a crowd of people.”

After checking his backpack twice, and then three times, he decided to head out for the day. He’d eaten some instant oatmeal in his room, and he was all set to go explore the mansion. As he’d said in his video, it was a converted Victorian mansion that had been lived in up until the 1970s. No one knew what prompted the family to just leave one day, but the entire acreage had been abandoned ever since. Harry caught a cab and bribed the driver to take him to the location. Bribes were a common part of urban exploring, and Harry didn’t mind paying a bit of a toll for the experiences he’d have.

Along the way to the back road that would lead him to the mansion, Harry’s nerves began to claw away at his insides. He would be a liar if he said he didn’t get a bit scared during explorations. It wasn’t that he was afraid of ghosts, or even cave-ins. He didn’t really think about those things anyway. If he died in a cave-in, at least he’d be dying doing something he loved, something he was passionate about. It was a bit morbid, but then again, Harry tended to be a bit morbid. No, in all honesty he was more scared of running to living people than anything. There were stories among the urban exploring community of run-ins with homeless people, people with crack swimming through their veins and visions of demons in their heads, people with mental illness who swore they saw satan at every turn, and lastly just evil - evil people who performed rituals and rites in the empty rooms of the abandoned places. Harry had stumbled across several ritualistic remains of altars and pentagrams. Those things spooked him more than anything. It was one of the reasons Liam hadn’t wanted Harry to go alone this time, because everyone knew the living were to be feared more so than any ghost story.

Harry bit at his nails as the cab continued towards their destination. The bribe would cost almost triple the typical fare, but Harry knew it counted for both getting him to the destination, and for keeping the destination secret. It was one of the codes Harry lived by as an urban explorer. Too often he found condoms laying on church floors, statues of the Virgin Mary with sexual sayings written in spray paint across her body. Seeing hateful symbols and phrases on the walls, broken windows, stolen items was just part of the experience of urban exploring, but it wasn’t a part he enjoyed. Harry was passionate about the integrity of the places he visited and their stories. Seeing destruction at human hands broke his heart in more ways than he could ever express. In spite of the growing fan base and pressure from viewers to reveal his locations, Harry never did and he never would. If he could protect these places as best he could, he’d do anything in his power to do so. If there was to be destruction, he prayed it be at nature’s hand as God had intended and not by the hand of man.

The cab pulled up to the back road and Harry pulled out the cash to pay the fare. With a deep breath to muster up some courage, he gathered his things and stepped out of the cab. According to the exploring community, the dirt road lead about three miles to the mansion. It’d be a bit of a hike, but Harry was prepared. He took some time to set up the camera on his selfie stick to record himself as he was walking.

“It’s me again,” he grinned into the camera. Talking into the camera always helped relieve his nerves a bit, “We’re on our way to the mansion now. As some of you know, we’re almost about to hit our twenty-fifth exploration soon. A few more trips and we’ll be there. That’s so awesome! All your donations to my fundraiser have been incredible. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without you all and I honestly cannot thank you enough. There’s several places I want to go to after here. Maybe Milan or Peru? I was thinking Paris too, or maybe New York. With your help, I can go anywhere. It’s kind of exciting, eh?”

Harry knew if he rambled too much, it’d mean more time behind a desk editing and so he flipped the camera around to face the direction he was headed. It wasn’t long before the dilapidated mansion came into view. It stood on the horizon like a crooked fortress made of timber held together by twine and bubble gum. The whole thing seemed to be leaning to one side, and the shingles from the roof were rotting and falling down both into the home and around the overgrown weeds outside. The mansion had once been painted white, but now was grey from years of neglect. There were a few broken windows and Harry’s heart sank. He knew there was some vandalism here, according to the explorer community. He just hoped it wasn’t too much. He still hadn’t recovered from seeing the hateful things written upon a peeling painting of Jesus with his mother Mary. In Harry’s eyes, people who vandalized such sacred places were the worst kind of scum. Maybe a mansion wasn’t as sacred as a neglected chapel, but it was still sacred in Harry’s eyes.

A family had once lived there. As he got closer, he could almost picture some kids playing in the overgrown grass to the side of the mansion. He could practically hear their giggles and see them playing a game of tag or kickball. He imagined a garden off to one side that the mum would tend to every morning, pulling weeds and watering and picking veggies for beautifully made meals to serve to her family. Harry headed up the front steps of the mansion, up to the two massive wooden doors. He tugged at one and wasn’t too shocked that it pulled open easily. It used to surprise him how open these places were, but not anymore.

“I used to be surprised,” Harry addressed the camera, “when I could just walk into places. But now I’m used to it, I guess. Many people don’t know how many places are just walked away from, left open for just anyone. Right this way is the entry way. Check this out guys, holy shit. This is amazing. Look! Look at the stained glass on the windows! And the elegant tile floors! They’re covered in dust, but you can still make out the intricate designs. Wow. And over here is the grand staircase! See how it wraps around like that! Amazing! We have to go upstairs and check it out. But first let’s check out the first level. There’s three stories here, and we’re going to take one at a time. So far I’m not seeing much damage, so that’s good! Other than the typical, natural decay of things.”

Harry had to admit, he was pretty impressed. The entryway was covered in dark grey dust, and some of the tiles of the floor were cracked and pulling up, but for the most part it was still in good condition. The fact that the stained glass windows were still intact was very impressive. Usually, those were the first things to go. Harry panned the camera around, zooming in on certain things and getting the perfect shots. He almost wanted to make a quip about film school not being a complete waste of money, but he didn’t. The fact that he was an explorer was still a topic of tension within his family, and he knew a snide comment like that would not help his case too much.

“Let’s go this way,” Harry said, “I think the kitchen is probably this way. Oh, I was wrong! This was the dining room! Most of the furniture is gone, but you can see over here was a little bar area! And check out that chandelier, that’s amazing! Their table would have probably gone here. You can almost see it, can’t you? The family sitting down for a meal. Dad saying a blessing while Mum smiles at him across the table. The kids chattering about their day at school. They’re laughing. They’re happy.”

Suddenly, Harry found himself frozen in place. There was a noise off in the distance, but close enough that Harry knew it was coming from within the house. This was an explorer’s worst fear. He prayed it was just the wind, or maybe some animal. Surely it was just a raccoon, right? His curiosity was getting the best of him, and gripping the camera tightly in his hands, Harry panned towards the direction of the noise before taking the steps forward.

“Guys,” he whispered, his voice husk and hushed, “I don’t think we’re alone here today. I’m going to go check it out, okay? If this is the last you see of me, thank you for all you’ve done for me and the opportunities you’ve given me.”

Harry knew he was being dramatic, and he tried to chuckle to give his little admission a bit of humor, but truthfully he was practically about to piss himself. This was absolutely not what he wanted. And of course, this would be happening when he was alone for once. He took a deep breath and continued toward the noises. He didn’t even notice the rooms he was passing through, only focused on finding the cause of the noise and facing it head on. If he was going to die, at least he lived a life he’d loved, right?

Harry came around the corner and into a room which he could only assume to have been  a living room once upon a time. What he saw made him freeze in his tracks and caused his blood to bubble and boil within his veins. There, standing on the brick ledge of the fireplace, was a boy in jeans, a sweatshirt, and a beanie. He had a can of spray paint in one hand and was in the process of spray painting a smiley face with x’s for eyes above the fireplace mantel. Harry knew he should turn and run, that was the thing to do. But seeing someone in the act of vandalizing such a beautiful piece of history made his blood turn to hot soda within his veins. He balled his hand into a fist and marched over to where the boy was standing on his tiptoes as he was working on the second X.

“You!” Harry shouted, “What the hell do you think you’re doing!”

“Jesus! Fuck!” The boy jumped down from the ledge, clutching a hand to his chest, “Who the bloody hell are you?” He asked, attempting to sound demanding but Harry could hear the fear lacing his voice.

“I could say the same to you!” Harry felt his face grow flushed, “Who the hell do you think you are? You’re vandalizing this place! This was someone’s home!”

The boy said nothing, and that infuriated Harry even more. He kept the camera rolling as he began to tear into the vandal, “Do you not have any respect? Any consideration at all? This was someone’s _home!_ A _family_ used to live here!”

“I don’t see anyone around.”

Harry’s nails dug into his palm, “Doesn’t matter if anyone is here or not! This place might be abandoned, but I’m not about to let it be forgotten about. Just because it’s abandoned doesn’t mean it’s not still special. Did you know the wallpaper you’re defiling is probably the original wallpaper from the Victorian era? Look at the damask print and yellowing tone due to the aging of the glue underneath. This is _history_ you’re destroying! And for what? For a god damn smiley face?”

Harry glared at the boy, expecting some sort of apology. Instead, the boy was standing there with his arms folded across his chest and a smirk playing on his lips. Harry was so tempted to smack that smirk right off his cheeky little face. Who the hell did this little degenerate think he was anyway? And then the little hellion said something that truly made Harry want to reach out and hit him.

In the most cold, apathetic voice, he said, “Who cares?”

“What the hell do you mean who cares?” Harry found himself close to shouting.

“I mean who cares,” the boy shrugged, “Honestly. Look, this place is abandoned, forgotten about. No one gives two shits about what happens to this place. The owners didn’t care enough to even try to sell it. They just walked off and left it to fall to ruins. No one cares what happens to it. Me painting a smiley on this grody wallpaper isn’t going to affect anything! No one is even going to ever know I’m the one that did it. So who cares, really? Other than you. And honestly, you’re probably the only person in the entire world who does. So….ta,” the boy turned back to finish his spray painting job and Harry didn’t even give himself time to think. Instead, he grabbed the boy by the hooded sweatshirt and yanked him back down from the ledge in one swift motion.

“Fuck you!” The boy ripped away from Harry’s grip, “What the fuck is your problem?”

“My problem is you! And arseholes like you who think they are entitled to do whatever the hell they want without consequence. Yeah, no one will know it was you, but you’re still destroying something of value. And maybe no one cares about this place other than me, but that’s still me that cares. That’s still _one person_ that gives a shit about this place. This place is history! Look around! It was a home once upon a time. This was their living room. I bet a Christmas tree stood in that corner, and the fireplace where you were standing was probably once lined in stockings for the kids. This place is overflowing with history! The Victorian wallpaper! The crown molding! Do you know what I do? I go to these places and I record them to share with the world before nature takes over and these places completely fall to ruin. I want to document this piece of history while it’s still here to document. See the tree breaking through that window there? That’s nature taking over. And it’s the only thing that should have a hand in the destruction of anything. Men destroy too much as it is. So how dare you come into this place with your spray paint and take a bit of this history for yourself. How dare you destroy something that you are not worthy enough to destroy.”

Harry was an empath by nature, and he tried to always keep a calm demeanor around people. He hated having to yell or scold anyone, and having to raise his voice to the boy in front of him exhausted him. He found himself having to catch his breath, his eyes locked on the piercingly blue ones in front of him. Harry let himself look at him for the first time, really. He had ice blue eyes and the longest lashes Harry had ever seen on anyone. There were a few soft freckles sprinkled on his nose and there was a little constellation of freckles upon one of his cheeks. He might have been attractive had he not been an absolute delinquent.

“That’s what you do?” The boy asked, and his tone suddenly wasn’t as challenging as it had been, “You go around these places and film them to share with people?”

“Yes,” Harry nodded curtly, “That’s what I do. I try to share these histories with people while they’re still here to share.”

“So you wander around empty buildings with your little camera then?”

“This little camera probably cost more money than you’ve ever seen,” Harry said, and instantly regretted his words when he saw hurt flash across the boy’s face. “Look,” Harry sighed, turning off the camera, “I’m sorry. That was a shit thing of me to say.”

“Take me around with you.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You’re going to explore this place, right? I want to come with you. If it means so much to you as you say it does, then show me. Show me how you see this shitty place through your eyes.”

Harry bit down on the inside of his cheek. A good part of him wanted to say “hell no.” But there was also the part of him that couldn’t help but think this would be the perfect opportunity to try to show this boy what places like this meant to him, and how important they really were. Maybe he could change this boy’s mind, turn him away from a life of vandalism.

“Fine,” Harry found himself saying, “But don’t you dare touch anything.”

“Yes sir,” the boy said, sarcasm dripping from his pretty lips.

Harry squeezed his eyes closed to keep from going off again before sighing and saying, “C’mon then. Let’s start back here with the dining room. I was just checking it out before I heard you.”

“Do you often run into other people doing this?”

“Never. Well, not yet. It’s not a good thing if you do. It’s actually quite dangerous. You aren’t a homeless drug addict strung out on drugs who wants to kill me, are you? Or maybe a psychopath serial killer who’s hiding out here before his next spree?”

“Jesus,” the boy’s eyes widened, “Well, no. I mean, I might have had a few homicidal thoughts back there when you were grabbing at me and screaming in my face, but that’s to be expected when someone’s grabbing at you and screaming in your face.”

“Sorry about that,” Harry winced, realizing how harsh he’d come across, “I just am really passionate about keeping the integrity of these places. I’ve seen some horrible things doing this. You wouldn’t believe the hate speech and slurs I see painted on walls, the satanic images and sexual phrases painted on the walls and upon statues of abandoned churches. It makes your stomach churn. I don’t have many things I truly find myself hating, but I do hate blatant disrespect. I don’t tolerate disrespect, and I especially don’t tolerate disrespect of sacred places. And maybe this abandoned, worn out mansion isn’t a church or chapel, but it’s still sacred in its own way.”

“Are you religious then?” The boy asked, following along with Harry towards the dining room.

“Not at all,” Harry flicked the camera back on and began to pan around their surroundings, “But I believe there’s just some things you don’t fuck with. And God is one of them.”

A silence fell over them as Harry zoomed the camera in on a broken grandfather clock with the glass blown out and cobwebs tangled in the hands.

The beat of silence was broken by a soft voice saying, “I wouldn’t do that, you know. I wouldn’t do that shit. Not the slurs or sexual things, and especially not in a church. I wouldn’t.”

Harry pulled the camera down from his face and met the boy’s eyes. “I know,” he found himself saying, “I know.”

“But you didn’t. You compared me to those people in your head, and I’m not. I’m not like that. I just….I heard about this place around town and I thought I’d come check it out and make my mark on it. I didn’t think….I mean, I honestly didn’t think anyone would care.”

“I care.”

“Well I didn’t exactly expect some weirdo with a camera to walk in on me, did I?”

“Weirdo!”

“Well yeah,” a smile pulled at the boy’s lips, “What would you call yourself, then?”

“Quirky, I think.”

“Quirky,” the boy shook his head, “Alright, Quirky. Do you have an actual name?”

“It’s Harry. What about you? What shall I call you, apart from Little Menace?”

“Oi! Louis.”

“Louis,” Harry tasted the name on his tongue. For some reason, it suited him.

“So tell me about this room then, Harry,” Louis said as they entered the dining room, “What makes this room special?”

“This was the dining room,” Harry said, walking around to catch a few shots, “The table was there in the middle. And off to the side, you can see the bar. See the glasses still lined up on it like that? They are covered in dust, but you can still tell they are fine crystal.”

“Must be worth a pretty penny, then.”

“That’s not why I do this, Louis. I never touch and I never take. It’s not my place.”

“But no one owns this stuff.”

“Exactly! No one owns it, and that includes me. Come along, the kitchen is this way.”

“So this is what you do then?” Louis asked, scurrying to keep up as Harry made his way to the kitchen, filming as he went, “You just go to these abandoned places and film?”

“It’s called Urban Exploring,” Harry explained, “I have a team usually, but today I came here on my own. We go to different abandoned places and film and then post them up on my YouTube channel. It’s got quite a following and there’s lots of people who contribute through donations so I can keep traveling and seeing these amazing places. I’m thinking of going to Peru next, or maybe Paris. Or New York.”

“Holy shit, are you serious?”

“Absolutely. This is my job, Louis and it’s what I love to do. I get to travel the world with some of my best friends and share bits of history with people who will never have the chance to see it themselves. I get to share it with them and preserve it for all eternity before it gets wiped away. In ten years, this building my collapse. It may catch fire, or be torn down. But my video of what we saw here today will live on.”

“That’s kind of amazing, actually.”

Harry felt his cheeks warm as he preened, “So you understand it a bit better now?”

Louis shrugged, “Still think you’re weird as fuck.”

“Quirky as fuck.”

Louis laughed, “Whatever. So tell me about this room.”

Harry panned around the kitchen with his camera, “This is the kitchen. Check out the food items still on the counter.”

“That’s disgusting, mate.”

“That’s history, mate.”

Louis snorted and rolled his eyes, “Moldy bologna is history?”

“Everything is history, even moldy bologna.”

“Must have missed that exhibit during sixth form museum day.”

Harry’s laugh bubbled up before he could even try to stop it.

“Anyone ever tell you that you laugh like a hyena?” Louis asked, smirking.

“Shut up,” Harry cleared his throat, trying to sober himself up.

“Anyone ever tell you that you have dimples like craters?”

Harry’s cheeks flamed and he felt himself suddenly become very much aware of the boy standing in front of him. Harry cleared his throat again, willing the butterflies that suddenly appeared in the pit of his stomach to fuck off.

“Come on,” he ducked his head and made his way towards another hallway,

“Just saying,” Louis shrugged, trailing behind him, “Someone could take shots out of those things.”

Harry squeezed his eyes shut, trying to get his thoughts under control. This couldn’t be happening. He had wanted to slap this boy less than twenty minutes ago. Now, he had butterflies in his tummy and a blush on his cheeks and he felt very aware of the fact that he was alone with someone so pretty.

“And what about you?” Harry asked, “Look at you. Someone could take shots off you easy.”

Louis flicked at his fringe as they entered into a room which Harry presumed to have been a library once upon a time, “I’m shit at body shots.”

“And why’s that?” Harry asked, scanning the room with the camera, and zooming in on a stack of water-ruined paperbacks, turning putrid brown with heavy mold.

Louis wandered over to a faded painting on one of the walls, “Too ticklish. I always giggle too much.”

Harry’s brain-to-mouth function must have stopped working because he heard himself admitting out loud, “That’s quite possibly the cutest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Shut up,” Louis grumbled, folding his arms over his chest.

“No, really,” Harry grinned, “In a world where all I see spray painted is hate speech and slurs and hateful symbols, you graffiti smiley faces. You’re too ticklish for body shots. You’ve got a constellation of stars on your cheek….” Harry froze, realizing what he just said as Louis’s fingertips grazed the little triangle of freckles on his cheek, “Sorry.”

Louis brushed past Harry to check out one of the stacks of ruined paperbacks, bumping his shoulder against his as he said, “Don’t be. I’m not going to complain too much about being complimented by pretty boys.”

“You think I’m pretty?” Harry lowered the camera.

Louis wrinkled his nose, “The whole ‘weirdness’ thing kind of counteracts it.”

“Quirkiness.”

“Whatever.”

They headed back towards the grand staircase in silence. Harry filmed the winding stairs and the rusting banister, trying to focus on his task at hand and not at the butterflies that seemed to have tripled in his stomach. It was ridiculous, really. Louis had been a vandal and a menace and everything Harry had told himself he stood against. But as they made their way upstairs, Louis seemed to take genuine interest in the old mansion, and in Harry as well, and Harry wasn’t entirely sure what to do with that.

Harry wasn’t sure what he believed about some things, but he couldn’t help but feel as though he were meant to run into Louis’ today. Maybe he wasn’t such the menace Harry had first thought.

“Hazza look!” Louis cried, pointing to an empty fountain at the top of the stairs.

Harry blinked at the sudden and unexpected nickname, but hurried over to check out the fountain.

“This is so cool, Lou,” he said - if Louis could use nicknames so could he, “Look at this tile! It’s all faded and cracking, but look! The back-splash pattern looks like it used to be a rose!”

“Wow,” Louis reached out to touch, but quickly withdrew his hand, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay. Touching isn’t so bad, just as long as it’s not something sharp or breaking. You can touch the rose if you want.”

Louis reached out again and ran his fingertips over the faded tiles of the rose, “This is so cool. I’ve never seen a fountain in a house before.”

“It’s pretty, huh? If I were ever rich enough, I’d quite like a fountain in my home one day.”

“You’ll be too busy exploring to maintain it.”

“Nah,” Harry zoomed the camera in on the fountain, “I’ll have retired. I love this a lot, and it’s a huge part of my life, but there’s going to be some time when I’ll want to settle down. Find the right guy, get married, have kids, the whole lot.”

“What’s the right guy then? In your mind?”

“Someone I can go on an adventure with,” Harry replied easily, stepping back from the fountain to film some old photos leaning against the wall, “We’ll go on adventures together, and he’ll explore with me. And when the time is right, we’ll both just know it and we’ll hang up our hats so to speak and start our next adventure. What about you?”

“Never really given it much thought,” Louis moved to glance at the photos with Harry, “I like the idea of finding my person, you know. But I dunno. I work as a dishwasher in a pub that I hate, and my mates all act like we’re still seventeen. Their ideas of adventure are getting high and playing video games.”

“What about you though? What’s your idea of adventure?”

“Something life changing,” Louis knelt down beside one of the photos, “These are kind of spooky, eh? Like, why would they just leave these?”

Harry pulled the camera down, “Many reasons, I guess. Maybe they had to leave in a hurry, or maybe the person in charge of looking after things just didn’t care about these photos. It’s kind of sad that they’re forgotten.”

“But not anymore, right?” Louis tapped at Harry’s camera.

“Right. Not anymore.”

“I get it, I think,” Louis pushed himself up from the ground, “You want to keep this place alive. You say you have a YouTube channel? That means other people care, Harry. It’s not just you who gives a shit. Other people do too, and you get to share this place with them and they get to see how special it is.”

“Exactly. Yes, Louis! I know it’s just a run-down old place that doesn’t look like it’s got much going for it, but it does! That fountain for example! The rose on the fountain is so beautiful and no one would ever know it or see it without my recordings. And one day, it won’t exist anymore but I’ll have documentation of it. It’s all special to me, Lou. More than just the fountain. The banisters of the staircase, for example. And the crown molding on the walls. And the peeling wallpaper. It’s all special in my mind, anyway. No matter how weird that is.”

Louis softened in a way Harry hadn’t seen before, and his hand reached out to tuck a curl behind Harry’s ear. Harry shivered under the touch and Louis simply smiles and said, “Not weird. Quirky.”

They continued on through the house, checking out the bedrooms and the bathrooms. Louis marveled at the jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom and Harry found the camera focusing more and more on Louis and Louis’ reactions to the house than anything else. There was something captivating about the way Louis’ eyes would brighten and how excited he’d get over little discoveries like a broken mirror in the master bedroom and the purple bunny stuffed animals left behind in the kids’ rooms. Harry felt himself being so overwhelmed by the bright, bouncing boy who had barreled into his life in the most unexpected of ways. And as they finished the final floor of the mansion, Harry couldn’t help but feel a twisting little sadness in the pit of his stomach at the thought of having to part ways with Louis. He wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye, or let him go.

“Thank you for this,” Louis said as they headed back down the stairs, “For showing me around and letting me just kind of tag along with you.”

“No problem. It was actually nice having someone here with me to share this with.”

“I am sorry about the smiley face,” Louis frowned, tugging at his fringe as he headed back towards the living room and his unfinished graffiti, “Look at it. It does look so out of place, doesn’t it. Have I ruined this place, Harry?” Louis turned from the graffiti, eyes full of worry.

“I don’t think so,” Harry came up behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder, “Because of this smiley, I met you and I got to show you this place and you got to see for yourself how special it is. Because of this smiley, I think you respect this place more than you did an hour ago, right?”

Louis nodded, “You were right, Hazza. These places are special. There’s history here, and stories. And even under all the cobwebs and mold, there’s beauty. And it’s fading away and going unnoticed and you’re out here trying to make it noticed, and sharing it with others. It’s kind of cool, actually.”

“We can explore more outside,” Harry said, mostly just to find reason to keep Louis with him longer, “There’s supposed to be an old tennis court somewhere, and an empty pool.”

“That’s too bad,” Louis wrinkled his nose, “I could be up for a skinny dip.”

“In forty year old algae and bacteria and probably water bugs and leeches?”

Louis pouted, “I was trying to be seductive, okay? You ruined it.”

“I wasn’t aware squealing because of bug bites was seductive, but you must teach me your ways,” Harry teased.

“Oi! I do not squeal, Harold.”

“Really?” Harry’s smirk grew into a grin, “Not even if a bug were to bite you right here?” He pinched at Louis’ ribs, laughing as Louis let out what was in fact a squeal and a giggle, dancing away from Harry’s hand.

“Rude,” Louis scowled.

“It’s not the bug’s fault really,” Harry smirked, leading the way towards the front door, “They just can’t help but bite something so cute.”

As he tugged open the front door, he stole a glance in Louis’ direction to find a soft blush and shy smile spreading across his face.

“Shut up,” Louis muttered as Harry held the door open for him.

“According to what I’ve been told, the pool should be this way, past the tennis courts.”

“That looks like another building over there,” Louis pointed past some overgrown brush, “Wanna go check it out?”

“Look at you, lil explorer in the making,” Harry grinned.

“Well, I am learning from the best!” Louis preened before straightening and marching forward towards the decaying brick building, “Now keep up, will ya?”

Harry rolled his eyes, scurrying over the overgrown weeds to keep up with Louis. As they neared the brick building, Harry realized then that it was an indoor pool and rec center. They made their way through a completely broken out window, and Louis wandered over to the ledge of the pool. The water was maybe a foot deep, and almost pitch black. There was some trash thrown in that Harry couldn’t quite make out.

“What was that you were saying about skinny dipping?” Harry prodded a finger into Louis’ side.

“Oi! Hands to yourself or I will shove you in there.”

Harry kept both hands on the camera after that, “Something tells me that’s not something to try to bet against.”

“You’d be right. Check this out though. Can you picture it? This whole area here lined up with lounge chairs.”

“And over in that corner a bunch of pool toys for the kids - noodles and floaties.”

“I bet there was a net going along here for water volleyball. It’s a shame,” Louis frowned, kicking at a stack of rusting lounge chairs, “that this is what it’s come to.”

“It is a bit sad, yeah,” Harry nodded, “But I’d rather get to see it and imagine it in its glory than to never see this at all. And it’s nice to remind yourself what it was before, even if it is a little sad. It’s important to remember this place had a life before this.”

“It seems like it had a good life,” Louis said, “Decades of good life and happy memories.”

Harry nodded, the tight sadness curling in his stomach and creeping up his chest. There was nothing left to explore here. He’d have to head back to the main road and call for another cab to come pick him up, and he and Louis would have to part ways now. There was nothing left to explore, there was nothing left to share here. Harry knew it was ridiculous to be so upset by that. He’d known Louis for just a few hours and that was it. It didn’t make sense to feel so connected to the boy, or so sad at the thought of having to say goodbye. The truth of the matter was, Harry wasn’t ready. Louis had come into his life and had disrupted everything and Harry didn’t know what to do with him other than the fact that he didn’t want to leave him. Something told him if they parted ways, there’d be a Louis’ shaped hole in his life that he’d never be able to fill again.

He watched as Louis wandered over to the diving board of the pool and climbed up the rickety steps.

“Be careful!” Harry found himself calling out.

“Always am,” Louis called back, gently stepping out onto the center of the diving board.

He stood on the board, spreading his arms out to his sides and Harry lifted his camera, capturing the perfect shot. The sunlight was streaming in in thick beams through busted out window panes, casting Louis in a shower of golden sunlight in the midst of the dark, dingy pool room. Everything in the pool room was dark shadows, dark water, dark dust, dark algae. The glass ceiling panels were covered in thick, green pollen, casting everything in a shadow of decay. And then there was Louis - this boy made of sunbeams, who wore constellations on his cheeks - standing in the midst of it all, cast in a sea of golden light. Harry was used to the darkness, to the decay he saw on his treks and explorations. He was accustomed to the shadows and the dust and the dark. He wasn’t accustomed to Louis, and the brightness that seemed to flow in his presence. Harry raised the camera, zooming in to capture the perfect moment.

Louis brought sunlight with him wherever he went, Harry knew. Sunlight was something he was short on in his line of work. He saw beautiful things every week - beautiful stained glass and paneling and antique furniture and paintings. None of it compared to the boy made of gold, and the sunlight surrounding him, standing on that grubby diving board.

And suddenly the moment ended. Louis turned and climbed back down the rickety ladder, making his way back towards Harry, and back towards the shadows away from the streaming sunlight. And Harry turned off the camera then, knowing that nothing else he’d capture today would match that moment. It was over though, like the abandoned places he visited, and could only be relieved through video.

Together, they made their way back towards the busted out window pane they had entered. Harry’s stomach clenching at the thought of this all coming to an end, when suddenly he felt Louis’ hand slip into his own, a perfect fit. Harry felt Louis give his hand a soft squeeze as they stood at the busted panel together.

“So,” Louis said, voice soft, the quietest he’d spoken all day, and yet laced with a touch of anticipation, “where shall we explore next?”

Harry squeezed his hand back, “Anywhere we want,” he answered, as they stepped through the panel together, out into the sunlight, and headed towards their next adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and please feel free to reblog the tumblr post found [here](http://wellingtontat.tumblr.com/post/154972854378/like-a-crow-on-a-wire-take-me-around-with-you) :)


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